Wednesday 20 April 2011 02.59 EDT
First published on Wednesday 20 April 2011 02.59 EDT

The big Sunday tournaments online were busy this week, despite the ghostly disappearance of American players. Some sort of clampdown is going on in the States over online poker – nobody yet understands exactly what it is, so I have no analysis – but the sites are operating as normal in the UK. In fact, more Europeans than ever were playing the big Sunday matches, probably hoping that the game would be softer without Americans.

I don't know if that's true, but here's a bad play I watched in the States-free Sunday Warmup on PokerStars (my sponsor site). From the cut-off, I raised to 300 with K♦ T♦. The button and big blind both called. The flop came K Q 8 rainbow. The big blind checked, as did I (not wanting to face a raise with my medium hand), and the button bet 600. The big blind called and I called behind. It was possible the button was stealing and the big blind was drawing, so I chose to take a view after the turn. The turn was a 6 and we all checked.

The river was a 5, and now the big blind came out betting 800. I folded immediately, feeling sure he had been slow-playing KQ all along. He wouldn't bet a missed draw or weaker pair, out of position into two opponents. The button raised up to 2500. The big blind called and showed the expected KQ. The button showed AK.

Wrong moves from both. The button should have flat-called; his raise would only get action from a better hand. The big blind should have re-raised; his hand was winning in all but the freakiest circumstances. I don't know if the games have got softer in general, but I'm the only one who played the river correctly here.